09.12.2024
Federica has been selected by Stichting Stokroos to participate in the Nairs residency. She will spend 3 months in summer 2025 at the Fundaziun Nairs, in Switzerland, conducting research about alpine landscapes.
17.10.2024
As winners of Europan17, we are in Madrid between October 17th-19th to attend the Europan Forum. We are contributing to a debate about the theme of ‘welcoming’, visiting some inspiring projects and meeting all the other winners.
Photo by Europan Europe
20.06.2024
We are participating in the collective working session ‘Hoe zit het nu met ’t Zoet?’, organised by Gemeente Breda, CrossMark and Provincie Noord-Brabant. Selected stakeholders, residents and representatives have been invited to discuss the future of ’t Zoet. We are committed to see this area become a vibrant new neighbourhood, as a laboratory of innovative alternatives to traditional building practices.
15.06.2024
We have been invited to be part of the program of the Dag van de Architectuur, in Breda. Organised by BLASt, the event features a presentation on site ('t Zoet) of our Europan17 winning project ‘Strata-scapes’, among contributions of artists’ collective Observatorium, Shift A+U and Powerhouse.
Photo by Edwin Wiekens
01.06.2024
We are part of Rotterdam Architectuur Maand ’24! Our project ‘Productive Commons’ is included in the exhibition ‘Tuin van de Stad’. You can visit it until June 30th.
18.03.2024
Federica, together with Myriam López Rodero, has organised a Design Studio at the Academie van Bouwkunst Groningen about future cities, focused on Seoul. She is now leading a group of students on a trip to South Korea, where they will meet numerous local architects and experts, have a workshop with other students from Soongsil University and visit their project site. The trip is also an occasion to meet and exchange ideas with Professor Jungin Kim, a fierce proponent of the use of bio-based materials like wood, instead of concrete, for construction in Seoul.
05.02.2024
The Architectenpoule Tilburg Business Parks has officially been launched. Together with Office KGDVS and &bogdan, we have been selected to work alongside Gemeente Tilburg and local entrepreneurs to develop new ideas for industrial areas in Tilburg. We kicked off the collaboration with a workshop and day trip to Brussels, to brainstorm and visit some of the best built examples of projects integrating production into the city.
"Strata-scapes" is a transformative strategy aimed at converting a former industrial and now vacant site into fertile grounds for pioneering landscapes and the experimentation with bio-based materials. The project proposes a new way of urban development, building upon existing foundations and embracing traces of its spontaneous nature. To initiate the development process, we introduce Basic Infrastructures addressing essential technical and social needs. We combine them with Testing Grounds—areas for experimentation, and cultivation of biomaterials. Finally we complete them with Biobased Infills - architecture and structures made from material produced on-site. In our vision, 't Zoet becomes a spatial laboratory: its architecture is a living assemblage that can evolve over time. The nurturing of a living environment is embedded not only in the design of its spatial layout and maintenance, but also in the conceptualisation, regeneration, production, and construction of its components.
type / competition 1st prize, research-by-design
location / 't Zoet, Breda, NL
year / 2023-2024
size / 3 ha
Photo (last) by Edwin Wiekens
“Productive Commons” is a vision for a series of temporary interventions at the intersection of living and working, integrating circular and modular structures and regenerative landscapes. The structures draw inspiration from M4H's industrial heritage, weaving past narratives with future aspirations. They serve as flexible platforms, fostering productivity beyond economic gains, nurturing local ecosystems, and supporting communal activities. Each of the interventions links to existing productive activities, offering support and resources - clean water, soil, material storage and shelter. All of them are modular and easy to assemble, disassemble and modify - in order to be expanded, moved or removed over time with the help of a local community. Proposed structures are supported by a landscape strategy that gradually makes the space safe, habitable, and attractive for new communities of people, plants, and animals.
The project was part of the exhibition HOE WILLEN WIJ WERKEN M4H 2030 (2022, KeileZaal, Rotterdam), organized by KeileCollectief, and was made possible by the Fleur Groenendijk Foundation. It was also exhibited as part of Rotterdam Architectuur Maand ‘24.
type / research-by-design, exhibition
location / Keilekwartier, Rotterdam, NL
year / 2023
size / 5,5 ha
client / KeileCollectief
collaborators / Adi Samet, Agnieszka Batkiewicz, Andrea Bit and Maciej Wieczorkowski
Photo (last) by Margarita Kouvatsou
Słodka x Zatta is a multidisciplinary practice at the intersection of architecture, urbanism, and landscape design. Our vision is based on valuing the often overlooked qualities of existing environments and striving to maximise the reuse of available material and immaterial resources. Our project approach is inherently site-specific, involving the adaptation of existing spaces, the repurposing of materials and the active engagement with local communities. Guided by these principles, a significant portion of our work revolves around themes such as post-industrial transformation, innovative living-working typologies, urban manufacturing, and the development of productive areas. We view urban plans and architecture as processes rather than finished products, always able to adjust, and grow or shrink over time.
As a spatial practice, we are active on different fronts: design proposals, research projects, knowledge dissemination through exhibitions, workshops and public talks, and teaching endeavours. This variety of activities has allowed us to connect with a network of like-minded experts and designers, both in The Netherlands and abroad, and together advocate for the productive city as a more inclusive, adaptive, dynamic and just city.
Izabela Słodka is an architect, who has been working on projects ranging from urban visions to small scale temporary interventions, engaging in strategic designs and research by design projects. She has built her expertise in the “Productive City” topic, and has taught at the Rotterdamse Academie van Bouwkunst, Fontys Academy of Arts and TU Vienna. She is a winner of several international competitions: Europan 15 (winner in Rotterdam, NL), Europan 16 (runner up in Klagenfurt, AT) and Europan 17 together with Federica Zatta (winner in Breda, NL). She studied in Poland and in the Netherlands, obtaining her Master degree from TU Delft.
Federica Zatta is an architect and researcher, who has extensive work experience in the fields of landscape and urban design, with a particular focus on climate adaptation and nature-based solutions. She holds a teaching position at the Academie van Bouwkunst in Groningen, where she has also formerly been a Research Methodology lecturer, and has taught Design Research and Communication at the Rotterdamse Academie van Bouwkunst. She studied between Italy, Chile and The Netherlands and obtained a post-graduate degree cum laude from The Berlage Center for Advanced Studies in Architecture and Urban Design.
Photo by Tim Stet
2024 / Stimuleringsfonds Creatieve Industrie Talentontwikkeling grant for Izabela Slodka, NL
2024 / Architectenpoule Tilburgse bedrijventerreinen, Tilburg NL
2023 / Europan 17 Strata-scapes, 1st prize, ‘t Zoet, Breda NL
2023 / Fleur Groenendijk Foundation Productive Commons, 1st prize, Rotterdam NL
2021 / Europan 16 Tracing Domains 2nd prize, Klagenfurt AT, with Xander van Dijk
2021 / Culture Campus Mozaïek aan de Maas, Rotterdam NL
2019 / Europan 15 Makers’Maze, 1st prize, M4H, Rotterdam NL, with Erica Chladova
2016 / YTAA Mies van der Rohe Award Collage & Continuity, nomination, Krakow, Poland
Photo by Frank Hanswijk, Aard van de Plek expo in Keilepand, 2021
